


Hot Musicians Make the Best Clientele

by Azeran



Series: Miraculous [8]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged up Luka Couffaine, Aged-Up Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, F/M, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Lukanette, Mentioned Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Mentioned Nino Lahiffe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25067599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azeran/pseuds/Azeran
Summary: The extremely attractive lead singer of Viperion wants to commission Marinette for a new look. But first, she has to get through a meeting with him, face to face!
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Miraculous [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773388
Comments: 10
Kudos: 265





	Hot Musicians Make the Best Clientele

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Doriebell on tumblr, who gave me the prompt “battle of the bands meets cute misunderstandings!” This...isn’t that. I tried, Doriebell, but I’m a slave to the Lukanette writing! It does its own thing. I’m just a conduit. XD hopefully you still enjoy this!

“Girl! You can’t take this guy’s commission! Don’t you know who he is?? _”_

Marinette blinked, weakly glancing between Alya and the figure standing across the room, his teal-tipped locks neon bright against the pastel pink of her bedroom. “Of course I do. That’s Luka.” 

Alya groaned, smacking a hand over her face. “ _Luka??_ You mean, _Luka Couffaine?!_ As in, the lead singer for Viperion?? Nino and Adrien’s main competition in Jagged Stone’s annual music competition next month!? C’mon Marinette! Did you seriously forget? It’s only the biggest thing in the entire Parisian music industry since Jagged went solo two years ago!!”

Oh. _Oh. That Luka._ And _that_ competition. 

Whoops. 

Alya gave her a look, and Marinette cringed. “Okay, so maybe I forgot! I’m sorry! I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to keep up with everything that’s going on!” Marinette groaned, frantically pulling the other girl deeper into their corner of the room. She didn’t want Luka overhearing them. “But Alya, does it really matter? Luka contacted me over a month ago! The competition wasn’t even announced then, was it? So there’s no conflict of interests!”

“Uhuh. Sure. You say that, until he sweet talks you into giving up all of the boys’ secrets,” Alya grumbled. 

“What secrets? I don’t know anything!”

Completely ignoring that particular factoid, Alya prattled on. “How did you two start talking anyway? You didn’t recognize him, so I know you haven’t met before.”

_Mon dieu._ She wasn’t going to drop this, was she? “You’re right, we haven’t. Luka contacted me through my website. You know, the website YOU helped me create?” Marinette hissed, pointedly meeting the other girl’s amber gaze. “He messaged me asking if we could meet and talk about collaborating on the costumes for his newest music video.”

“You mean, _Viperion’s_ newest music video.”

“Maybe? Ugh, I don’t know! I don’t have all the details yet.” Marinette grabbed the girl’s hand and led her to the door, quietly praying she wouldn’t put up a fuss. “Can we please talk about this later? My client’s waiting, and he specifically asked for complete confidentiality.”

“Oh, I bet he did.” Scowling in the musician’s direction, Alya huffed. “Fine. I’ll leave you alone with the hot rival. But you better text me later, with details! I mean it girl! Don’t you dare forget!”

“I won’t! Promise!” 

“GOOD.” Alya threw one last scowl over Marinette’s shoulder and then flounced out of the room in a flurry of reddish-brown hair. And as soon as she was gone, Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered some very frustrated, borderline unkind things under her breath. She loved her best friend, she really did, but Alya could be so...so-!

“You know, I don’t think your friend likes me very much.”

“Wha—!!” Marinette whirled around, her heart racing in her chest. Luka had somehow crept up behind her, tall and imposing in his ripped jeans and tastefully worn jacket. She stared at him for a solid three seconds, then flailed backwards with a soft shriek. “Where did you..how—?!! Gah!! Don’t do that!”

“Sorry.” Luka grabbed her arm to keep her upright, chuckling softly. “I was trying not to intrude. Your friend kind of seemed like she wanted to bite my head off.” 

“N-no! Not really! She’s just..protective.” Dragging in a gulp of air to calm her racing heart, Marinette looked up at the dark-haired musician and found herself face to face with a smirk that was curvaceous, playful, and _obscenely_ attractive. 

Realizing she was staring, Marinette helped and clapped her hands together, forcing a laugh. “I-umm….we should probably start talking! Not that we weren’t already, but...the c-commission! We should talk about the commission! Yup! Because that’s what you came for! Not for me to waste your time with my crazy rambling..”

Ugh. Smooth, Marinette. Very smooth. But Luka seemed to take it all in stride, oddly enough. Huh. Lucky her. 

“Sure, if you’re ready. Personally, I’m in no rush. I took the entire afternoon off so we could do this.” Luka lazily looked her over and then cocked his head to the side, humor gleaming inside his mint-green eyes. “I wanted to make sure that you’d have my full, undivided attention.”

“Uh...t-thank you?” A stubborn flush burned her face, making the freckles on her nose all the more prominent. Marinette shivered and scrubbed at her cheek, praying the musician didn’t say anything. It’s not like she could help it! His husky voice just... _did things_ to her. Specifically her insides. Hnghh. “Well, l-let’s get the basics out of the way first! I think that’ll make things go a lot smoother.”

Luka smiled. “Whatever works best for you. You’re the artist.” Shrugging off his jacket, he took a step back and shoved his hands in his pockets, the picture of casualty. “So. How do you want me?” 

….. _What???_

Despite her mouth opening and closing, Marinette didn’t utter a word. She couldn’t. Her mind had gone completely blank after his blatant invitation, only static noise present. It didn’t help that she couldn’t stop gaping at his arms, which were now exposed from the bicep down by his short-sleeved t-shirt. 

Luka Couffaine was...well, _extremely_ well endowed, in all of the best ways. His muscles were sinuous and lithe, like a serpent’s coils, all tucked away beneath deliciously tanned skin that reminded Marinette of honey topped brioche. Because above all else, this man was a SNACK. And he-

_He was watching her._

“Are you okay? You look a little flustered.” Luka put his hands up and took a step backwards, grimacing slightly. “Did I say something wrong? Sorry. I’ve never had a consultation before, so I don’t really know how any of this works. I kind of assumed you’d need to take my measurements, or-”

“NO!” Cringing at the volume of her voice, Marinette forced herself to calm down and try again. The last thing she needed was for Luka to think she was some kind of crazy person. “I-I mean...no. Not yet. I won’t need your measurements until after we pick a design to go with.” 

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Fuck, my bad. I hope I didn’t make things awkward,” Luka apologized.

“No, of course not! You’re very fine! Ah, I mean, fine! As in you’re fine! Not that you’re..ugh. Never mind.” Marinette groaned. Why was she a hot mess today? Just because Luka was hot and nice, didn’t mean she should be losing her cool! “I’m so sorry. I’m not always this…” she gestured weakly at herself, forcing a smile. “I just really want to make a good impression on you.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?” Luka released a quiet laugh and shook his head, his dark hair falling over one aquatic eye. “Relax. Honestly, you seem pretty cool. I’ve got no complaints so far.”

“Really?? Well—great! I’m glad to hear it!” Growing flustered under his continued attention, Marinette hurried over to her sprawling desk and grabbed a black binder stuffed full of drawing paper. “Why don’t I show you some of the designs I’ve drawn up? You can pick your favorites, describe any changes you’d like to make..”

The musician’s smile softened, as friendly as it was attractive. “I’d like that a lot. Thank you, Ms. Dupain-Cheng.”

“Marinette!” Blushing harder, Marinette took a seat on her chaise and patted the spot beside her. “You can call me Marinette.” 

“You sure?” Luka came over and sat down, offering out his hand. “Cool. I’m Luka. It’s a pleasure to work with you, Marinette. I’m super excited to see what you’ve come up with.” 

“Thank you, L-Luka! I appreciate that!” Marinette blushed a brilliant cherry red, scrambling to open her binder, fumbling with the elastic strap. She finally got it open though, _somehow,_ and yanked out the stash of drawings inside. “S-SO! These are some of the options I came up with, based on our texts. I have sketches for the whole band to look over too, but I thought we’d start with yours, then go from there. You’ll be the focal point, so we need to make sure you stand out.” 

“And here I thought that was my specialty.” Tanned fingers plucked the topmost paper from the pile, dragging it over onto his lap. Luka lazily perused the charcoal and watercolor sketches she’d drawn up, a pierced brow slowly arching with interest. “Wow...you really designed all these, Marinette? Just off our texts?”

Oh no. Did he hate them? She wouldn’t know what to do if he hated them! “....Yes?” Marinette prepared herself for the backlash, digging her nails into the soft material beneath her palm. “I tried to stay within the theme you mentioned, but I wanted to give you some variety, just in case. Sometimes you never know what you want until you see it.” 

“Hey, no worries! I’m glad you did! This is way more than I ever expected!” Luka shot a beaming, vibrant smile her way, his silver tongue piercing flashing between his teeth. “Seriously Marinette, these are amazing! They’re all so different, but I can tell you put some major thought into each one.” 

“Really? Wow! Thank you so much!!” Phew. Guess she didn’t need to panic after all! What a relief! Marinette released the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding and scooted closer to the ecstatic rockstar. The smell of his aftershave embraced her, a mingle of earthy cinnamon and well worn leather. 

_Merde._ She could design a whole wardrobe based on that scent alone. 

Speaking of, Luka now appeared intent upon devouring all of her designs, one by one. He flipped through the pages so fast, she almost thought he wasn’t even looking at them. But he was. Marinette saw his enthusiastic response to each new page in the slight tick to his jaw, the way his fingers caressed over each drawing, as if it were the finest of art. 

“There’s a lot of work here.” Luka gave a thoughtful hum, switching back over to a set of sketches in his left hand. “These are giving me the best vibe. But this one-” he tapped the design closest to her, “is my favorite.”

Marinette peeked at his prime choice, and grinned. It was a distressed denim jacket with leather paneling, and venomous blue serpent scales. “That’s one of my favorites too. It’s a little simpler than some of the others, but the details are what makes it shine!”

“No kidding. I’m in love with this scaly pattern you’ve got going on here.” His painted nail traced the watercolor pattern running up the right sleeve, drawn in rich emeralds, softer jade, and vibrant blue. “Is it embroidery? Painted leather?”

“Nope!!” Bouncing with enthusiasm, Marinette opened the front pocket of her binder and withdrew a gleaming guitar pick. ”I thought, if I could get my hands on a bunch of these in different shades of blue and green, I could resize them and use that to make the scales!” 

If excitement could’ve been rated, Luka’s would’ve been off the scale. There might as well have been stars in his eyes! “That’s amazing! What a creative idea! But Marinette, isn’t that a lot of work?” Luka took the pick from her, rolling it between his fingers with a practiced, easy skill. Such a small thing, but the dexterity made her stomach flutter in a suspiciously pleasing way. 

“Of course it is! That’s part of the fun.” 

“Fun, huh…” Luka laughed, short and sweet. “Cool. I guess it’s settled then. I want the badass jacket, please and thank you.”

Watching his fingers hypnotically handling the pick, Marinette almost missed what he said. Almost. “Wait...really?? B-but, are you sure? If you need some more time to look over the designs, I can give you a few days! I don’t want to rush you into a decision you might regret later.”

“Don’t worry about that. I made my choice, and I’m sticking by it. You’re crazy talented, Marinette. Anyone with eyes can see that.” Luka rolled the guitar pick across his knuckles before holding it out to her with a smirk. She slowly took it, wide-eyed and stunned. “So, if you’re up for it, then I’d love for us to work together. I think you’re just what Viperion needs to reach the next level.” 

Was...was she dreaming? She had to be dreaming. Luka’s expression didn’t leave any room for doubts though. He was being completely, utterly genuine. 

“This is really happening..” Marinette mumbled. It took a few times repeating it for the words to really sink in, but when they did, a squeal of delight bursted out of her. “This is really happening!! Luka! Oh my gosh, I-I don’t know what to say!” 

“Say yes,” Luka joked. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to walk out of here heartbroken.”

“Heartbroken huh? You like my designs that much?” She was teasing, being playful with him. Even still, Marinette saw Luka tense up, as if genuinely afraid she might say no. Though he hid it well with a faux wounded look. 

“Is it that obvious? Sorry, I never mastered subtlety as a kid. My sister says it’s a talent.” 

Marinette giggled. “Your sister is pretty smart.” Taking a moment to reel in her excitement, in case she gave in to the impulse to bear-hugged the gorgeous, flirtatious, and ridiculously sweet rockstar, Marinette gave him a brilliant smile and offered her hand out to shake. “Consider it a done deal then. And for the record. I’m really looking forward to working with you, Luka. I think we’re going to be great friends.”

Luka returned her smile full force and gripped her hand in his own, the pad of his thumb sliding across her smooth skin. And that’s what she used to excuse the sudden pang inside her heart, and the blood rushing to her face. Not the silky words that escaped his lips, making Marinette feel things she hadn’t felt in a long, _long_ time. 

“Heh. You and me both, _beautiful.”_


End file.
